Motivate us, this game is BORING.

[MrVicchio]

Author Topic: Motivation
SmarmyBastich
Station Member
Registered: Apr 2003 posted 04-14-2003 02:34 PM user search report post
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I would really like to say that this is a great game but I really can't. The concept is spectacular as is the story and the options available for character development. Unfortunately there are some really huge problems.
The focus of the game play is to kill members of the opposing army. That�s great except for the fact that it doesn't matter. When you kill some one they come right back at a spawn point and the opposing army never feels the loss. Since killing the enemy really doesn't make a difference then one should be taking bases and towers for tactical advantage. This, however, is not the case. The incentives for taking and keeping bases and towers are next to non-existent. Add on the fact that many of the bases and towers change hands every ten or fifteen minutes the motivation for taking and guarding the bases lessens even more.

The armies them selves are very lacking. There are no command structures to help provide direction toward victory. There is not even an overall idea of strategic goals that say, "Here is what we need to do to win this war."

Now before you get started on it. I understand that this is supposed to be a "un-ending war" but even so there has to be some sort of reason give to keep fighting aside from "killing a bunch of enemies who are going to come back anyways" Players really need some better goals than that to keep them coming back and paying the $10+ dollars a month. They need to be able to make accomplishments and headway against the enemy. I understand that you can get together with a squad of ten or so people and work together to capture a few bases but what does that matter when you move onto the next base and a lone hacker stops by and re-captures the base you just worked so hard for.

The way the game is set up has made almost everything the players do pointless. You kill someone, they respawn in a minute. You take a base, it gets recaptured in 10 minutes and didn't provide you or your team with anything really valuable while you had it anyways. Anything this futile just can't last very long. Players really need more benefits for taking/keeping bases and towers and some sort of chain of command that could provide strategies on a �Whole Army� type scale could really help.


Number of posts comming, read the full thread for more insight.

SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 04-14-2003 02:43 PM user search report post
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I'll answer this because it's a common sort of post. I'm not going to try to answer everything because I'd like it to be a discussion, if possible. If I don't provide an answer, I'll counter with a question so I can get more info before answering.
>> "Killing folks doesn't matter." Question: Does it matter in other games? If so...then how?

Now...before you answer, trust me when I say that we ARE adding incentives to the game. This is beta and there's still stuff rolling in, but I'm curious what sorts of things you're looking for in this regard.

>> "No command structure." The actual truth is that folks haven't gained enough command rank to get to the abilities that allow command structure to appear. There are a large number of command abilities up the CEP ladder...and we'll be making it a bit easier to get to a lot of them soon. (Currently, CEP accrual seems to be slower than we expected and we'll most likely be changing that soon.)

>> "Everything we do is pointless". Again, the same sort of question. When you play CS, or T2, or UT...what sorts of victory conditions do you find NOT pointless?

Thanks in advance. Let's discuss.

SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 04-14-2003 03:28 PM user search report post
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Thanks for the quality discussion so far. A few thoughts in response to some of your points:
a) We agree there needs to be more incentive to defending (and keeping) bases. Your comment about "letting it fall so you can get more xp by retaking it" is a pointed one. We're working on fixing this issue.

b) As for keeping folks coming back...I've had a lot of comments come my way like "I played PS for a few days, then went back to UT and didn't like it at all because it felt like nothing was going on and there were no tactical choices." (Not saying that's correct...don't flame me on it...just repeating a quote.)

On the other hand, I agree we need to keep doing things in the game to keep the appetites of FPSers sharp and hungry. We absolutely plan to do this and we're getting some announcements ready now to let you know what's coming in the first three months after release. We can keep you entertained longer and with more variety than any game existing or planned. You'll see.

c) There's lots of things coming, like the 24-hour "victory boards" that show how Empires do on a continent-by-continent and worldwide basis. Also stat boards for highest ranked players and Outfits. All that will be in before Release.

d) I sincerely believe that we offer more in the way of game variety and goals than any other game out there. You're correct that there's no 20-minute timer with a clear victory condition afterward, but the "phantom hacker" issue currently on the Beta servers is known and will be eradicated soon. Once that occurs, I think you'll see gameflow going the direction you all are indicating in these posts.

SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 04-14-2003 04:03 PM user search report post
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BobO...that will be done. We're revamping the main website now to include a lot of "at-a-glance" world conditions to make it easier to check world status when out-of-game.
Perhaps the victory condition you're looking for is the 24-hour winner list we're going to show off soon. That list essentially counts up the number of minutes that each Empire owned each base on each continent. We then tally it all up and declare a "winner" on each continent each day (status is shown along the way so you can check at any time to see how you're doing). Additionally, we do a straight tally of the 10 continent winners and compute who "won" the world for that day. We'll show tracking on that info so you can graph the ups and downs of your Empire on your server. That will help. Yes?

Additionally, I think much of the perception that "it all goes for naught" is the problem with the solo hacker or "phantom hacker (as we refer to it) issue. Once that is resolved I think you'll see significant gameflow change and we may want to revisit this discussion.

Don't forget the other non-obvious MMOFPS advantages:

a) Server stability and reliablity.

b) Security. We do a LOT to prevent cheating, griefing, and we never sneak in rules changes without telling you (unlike privately hosted servers).

c) Permanence. You can find the same players quite often on your world server. This allows much more permanence in association and makes it much easier to find like-minded folks to game with. Play for a while, and you're almost literally going to fall into associations that will enhance your gaming.

d) Gigantic worlds and scale. This is self-obvious, but the gaming experience just can't be matched in other games.

e) Continuous upgrade of content over time after release.

f) A monthly fee is cheap. $10-15 a month is just not much...*IF* this is a game you find worthy of that amount of cash. But to find it worthy, do some fair comparisons. How many games do you buy that aren't worth a dang? I buy 2-3 of those every month. They sound great, but they actually stink up the place. At $30 a crack, that's pretty expensive. However, if I *like* the game (and you won't be paying subscription fees if you *don't* like the game) then $12 a month to continuously see more variety and improved gameplay each month seems pretty cheap to me. Of course, my viewpoint is biased. So what are your thoughts?

SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 04-14-2003 07:44 PM user search report post
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Items to note from your conversations (good things):
a) You'll like the extent of the statistics we're keeping.

b) The state of the world will be available on the front page of www.planetside.com soon.

c) Your favorite stats will be available there also.

d) We're adding incentives for almost everything you mentioned (predominant suggestions are defense incentives and reasons for continent locks).

e) Lots of the other ideas you guys mention here are good ones and I'm scribbling them down for later. Remember...this isn't just a "release and forget it" game. We will be supporting this game with hosts of improvements, additions, and radical expansions later on. We'll never change the core gameplay in areas you've already explored (besides minor additions like extra vehicles and such), but the sky's the limit when we introduce completely new arenas later on. There's a lot of stuff coming down the pike over the coming year. Lots.

http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/p...ML/005855.html